Plotting stream traces in Gnuplot - gnuplot

Using with vector in gnuplot, I can plot nice vector fields of data sets consisting of four columns. What are my options, if, instead of a velocity vector field, I want to plot stream traces? Does gnuplot have a built-in functionality to accomplish this?
Of course I know that I can externally calculate the stream traces based on the vector field, but I would like to have it automated in Gnuplot. How to approach this (if it is possible)?

Nope, gnuplot doesn't have that ability. There's really a huge difference in processing between plotting a vector-field and plotting streamlines. The vector field only depends on the local point whereas the streamlines need to be calculated from the previous data -- Something which gnuplot doesn't do.

Related

How can I create some deadspace in a contour/vector plot around 2 specific points?

I'm writing a program meant to plot equipotential contours and acceleration vectors in a 2-body gravitational system. The functions themselves work, but I'd like to tidy up the presentation by removing the contours and vectors within a radius around the two bodies. Is there a way to 'deaden' the space around those points? I'm using matplotlib.pyplot.contour and .quiver, with test points created using numpy.arange and .meshgrid.

Gnuplot: How to plot heat maps on three coordinate facets to visualize 4D data

I am new to Gnuplot and unfortunately have to start with a (for me) nontrivial problem. I have X-Y-Z-Temperature data. So I have for every spatial coordinate a temperature value.
This comes somewhat closest
http://pgfplots.net/tikz/examples/contour-and-surface/
However, I would like to create a heat map (not contour) on the XY XZ and YZ plane to visualise the 4D data better (in the link it is just 3D).
So on each plane just a heat map using the same color code so that the temperatures can be compared.
Many thanks!
Toby
You can make '4d' plot with palette, e.g:
splot '3d.dat' u 1:2:3:4 palette pt 9
So you mean e.g. plotting a triedron T(x,y,z=0), T(x=0,y,z) and T(x,y=0,z) ? This should be possible with multiplot and rotating the view between each plot. This will be a fair amount of hacking, so the first question would be why you don't use other visualization software like paraview or mayavi ? These are more suited for this type of data, unless you need the flexibility of gnuplot either in terms of scripting, or in terms of plotting analytical functions on the same graph.

D3 - Difference between basis and linear interpolation in SVG line

I implemented a multi-series line chart like the one given here by M. Bostock and ran into a curious issue which I cannot explain myself. When I choose linear interpolation and set my scales and axis everything is correct and values are well-aligned.
But when I change my interpolation to basis, without any modification of my axis and scales, values between the lines and the axis are incorrect.
What is happening here? With the monotone setting I can achieve pretty much the same effect as the basis interpolation but without the syncing problem between lines and axis. Still I would like to understand what is happening.
The basis interpolation is implementing a beta spline, which people like to use as an interpolation function precisely because it smooths out extreme peaks. This is useful when you are modeling something you expect to vary smoothly but only have sharp, infrequently sampled data. A consequence of this is that resulting line will not connect all data points, changing the appearance of extreme values.
In your case, the sharp peaks are the interesting features, the exception to the typically 0 baseline value. When you use a spline interpolation, you are smoothing over these peaks.
Here is a fun demo to play with the different types of line interpoations:
http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4342190
You can drag the data around so they resemble a sharp peak like yours, even click to add new points. Then, switch to a basis interpolation and watch the peak get averaged out.

Using images for points in gnuplot

I have a frivolous question. Is there any way to use an image in lieu of points in gnuplot? For example, if I was plotting data about pasta consumption or something, I would have pictures of pasta (instead of usual gnuplot points).
Another option is to find a dingbats type of font with a suitable glyph. Then you can use "plot with labels" using that glyph as the label string. See for example the 5th plot in the demo
http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo/stringvar.html
I haven't played around with this feature at all myself, however, there is:
http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net/demo/barchart_art.html
Which shows the use of png files on a bar chart (Note, that this feature was added in Gnuplot 4.5 -- I think). With a little creativity, it seems like you could use that feature to do what you're asking -- although it would require a whole bunch of plot commands so it might be useful to write a script to generate the gnuplot script (or use iteration depending on your dataset) -- Obviously your image files would have to be in a format that your version of gnuplot understands as well ...
A possible strategy may be the plot with rgbimage option in gnuplot.
See the second example over here: http://www.gnuplot.info/demo_4.2/image.html
If you relate the center option with your data points, this may be possible.

Recompute a 3d vector field in a set of isosurfaces

I working on program (fortran90), which computes an magnetic field of some static set of wires with electric current. Its output is a magnetic field vectors in many points as file with columns "x,y,z,v_x,v_y,v_z). I able to plot this with gnuplot, e.g.:
But now I want to rewrite program to output isosurfaces (surfaces at which modulus of magnetic field vector is constant), like this (it is found in internet and don't correspond to first image)
Can I do this as second program or with using utility, which will convert my file with 6 columns into ... something format which can be drawn as surface set. Another way of doing this, as I think, is to rewrite first program to compute isosurface directly. Please, recommend me which way is better and how actually I can do this.
I think MathGL can do it easily. It is cross-platform GPL plotting library which have Fortran interface too. Here you can use a sequential call of vector fields and isosurface plotting.

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